The Bears earned the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft by way of recording the worst record in the NFL last season.
Some outsiders took this information an extra step past a bona fide roster upgrade, suggesting the front office trades Justin Fields this offseason to draft a quarterback with the first selection.
How do you look at Fields after his performance this season?
"I think the arrows point up on him. I like the direction it's going for sure," NFL analyst Mike Golic said on 670 the Score's Bernstein & Holmes show. "Boy, then all of a sudden you hear the 'Oh, maybe we should trade him, you know, and get a haul for that and start over a quarterback.' And I don't Tweet often, but that one made me Tweet and basically say, 'What the hell are you talking about?'"
"Let's see where this kid can take it. We know he can run. He's got to improve his throwing some. But, let's see what they can build around them."
Golic mentioned the cases of Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, explaining each quarterback's respective team elevated their play by adding elite pieces around them.
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To Golic, that's the key to exploiting the talents of a quarterback suffering under center.
"When you get the first pick in the draft, you need multiple things, but you need to start building around him [Fields] to see where this can go," Golic said. "The thought process of trading him and getting one of the 'surefire' first-round kids. What the hell is a 'surefire' anymore? It is a 50/50 shot on first-round quarterbacks. I don't want to hear surefires anymore. You got a guy that's improving the way he is, still got a few years left on that rookie contract, so you could work around that."
Here lies Golic's best point.
Rarely, do quarterbacks offer a legitimate fix for any team's quarterback position out of college. Only in the rarest, or sometimes unexpected positions, do highly drafted quarterbacks offer the solution.
Take Fields' draft as an example. Trevor Lawrence supposedly offered a "surefire" answer to the quarterback position. He remains one of the few exemptions to the draft, yet was the most highly-touted recruit coming out of college since Andrew Luck.
After Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Mac Jones entered the league. Yet, all three haven't lived up to their first-round, franchise-turn point expectations bestowed upon them.
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Golic concedes the Bears are lucky to have found a potential gem in Fields. He's proven to be a lethal rushing quarterback – arguably the most dangerous in today's game – while showing flashes of possessing a quality arm. Teams will have an easier job developing that guy than the raw prospect out of college.
All that's left is to do is add formidable pieces around him. And looking at the teams in the conference finals this weekend, specifically the Philadelphia Eagles, they offer a training manual for elevating the ability of your quarterback by way of building around him.
"What do you have around him?" Golic said. "You know you got Devonta Smith, who you got in the draft. You traded for A.J. Brown, who has had an incredible year. [Dallas] Goedert does a nice job at tight end. And oh, by the way, you have the best offensive line in football. That helps. That helps a hell of a lot when you have that.
"But what it adds when you have a guy that can run, where you can actually call quarterback power runs with the (running) back as an actual, extra blocker in there. It puts so much pressure on a defense."